Chaos Spells from Against the Ogre Horde

Against the Ogre Horde was the first European expansion to feature spells for evil sorcerers. Chaos Spell cards were not available in the European edition, they were an addition from the North American version of the game. The spell included in Against the Ogre Horde were not released as cards but as tokens, made of thick cardboard and with an oval shape. There were three different spells in this expansion and each of them came in five copies. Some sorcerers from this pack could cast spells multiple times so they added more copies of the same token for each spell. Characters that could cast a spell multiple times in the North American version were indicated in the Quest notes (for example: "he can cast Fireball twice").
What was the reason to not include them as cards is just my guessing but enough attendible I think. It seems the MB standard production for cards was a deck of 64 cards. 64 was the cards in the European Game-System and 64 was also the number of cards coming with the Wizards of Morcar pack. It seems they added lot of extra Men-at-Arms cards to fill the deck and reach the desidered number of 64. This would also explain why there was only five Helbardier cards against the six featured for each of the other Men-at-Arms type. Space Crusade (aka Star Quest) was also featuring a deck of 64 cards. It is possible They didn't have enough cards for Against the Ogre Horde pack (only 3 spells and 4 monster cards) to be worth the production of  a new deck. This would also explain why they put the four Ogre Monster cards on the rear of the questbook, to be cut, instead of using standard cards.

So, going back to the Chaos Spells, I recently converted the tokens into cards to match the style of my other custom made European Chaos Spells. I re-wrote a bit the text for each spell as the original tokens text was only partially written and you needed to read the full description inside the questbook to properly understand how each of these spells was intended to work (check the picture below).

A Lesson in Card Size

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this post I want to talk about something that many of us already know but others really miss.
There are three different sizes and layouts for the HeroQuest cards (but we could say five or even six exist...).
I am comfortable to refer to them as UK 1989, US 1989 and AH 2021 (or simply the NEW version).
Let's see them in detail...

Evil Wizard Deck

The Chaos Event deck (also called Evil Wizard deck) is a set of cards created to add some variety to our favourite dungeon crawler game and spice up your quests, solving annoying problems like a hero (usually the Barbarian) blocking a door and many other things.
Each card is different but players don’t need to study any additional rule because everything you need to know is written on the cards. The most common way to use this deck is the following: if the Evil Wizard player starts his turn with no monster to move (no miniatures placed on the board or unable to reach the Heroes or attacking them), he may roll one combat die. If a skull is rolled, he may draw one Chaos Event card. Remember, the card eventually drawn is for the Evil Wizard player’s eyes only and must be revealed to the Heroes only when it’s played. The text on the card explains when it can be used.
Only one card per turn can be played and its effect cannot be combined with other cards.
A card is discarded after it is used.
At the end of a Quest, all unused Chaos Event cards must be returned to the deck and shuffled.

Mound of the Beastmen

Mound of the Beastmen is a HeroQuest fanmade expansion created by French artist Mathieu Pascal in 2013, featuring six new quests journeying our heroes into the dark depths of the Mound of the Beastmen in search of a mysterious artifact, the Black Stone. In these sordid places, they will face the legions of Morcar (or Zargon) who have in their ranks new enemies and new perils. However, a powerful arsenal of never-before-seen artifacts will help the heroes accomplish their goal and gain even greater power. New tiles will bring an original experience to our adventurers, from the sweltering Forest of Shadows to the mystical Halls of Evil. Will you be ready to face the terrifying armies of Morcar once more? Will you succeed in thwarting his vile designs concerning the Black Stone in time?

Let's see what's new in Mound of the Beastmen!

Against the Ogre Horde (reworked stats)

I guess we all agree the variable Body Points system used in Against the Ogre Horde was a bit odd. I decided to rework Ogre stats but also considering the Elf Quest Pack Ogres. In the original 1992 edition of The Mage of the Mirror they had 10 Body Points which seems being too much. Neither a huge monster like the Frozen Horror has so many! Fortunately with the new 2023 edition of The Mage of the Mirror, Ogre body points were dropped to 5. Someone already tried to revisit the Ogre stats already, but no one was considering to create a version combatible with both expansions (ATOH and MOTM). Also the ogre pictured on the new 2022 version of the card (in MOTM) is looking more like an Ogre Chieftain than an Ogre Warrior: same weapon, same hairstyle. He is missing the chainmail spiked fist but he has a spiked shoulder plate attached with a chain. So much common points for me! Also his stats are more similar to the Ogre Chieftain, with just the exception of a lower defense (4 dice instead of 6).